


Baby there's a wall of ice outside

by strikedawn



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Sormik Advent Calendar 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 10:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikedawn/pseuds/strikedawn
Summary: “You’re trapped alone in a cabin with your crush, Sorey! No one’s going to interrupt you, you have no excuses!” Rose was rushing her words out, making sure they were heard before Sorey could cut the call. “Confess! To! Him!!”





	Baby there's a wall of ice outside

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays and Merry Christmas, guys! Here is my contribution to the sormik advent calendar of this year, I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you so much Pengie and Ali for setting it up, you guys are the best. <3 My prompt was snowed in!
> 
> Funnily enough, today marks the third year anniversary of my first sormik fic, so I'm incredibly happy I got today as my day to post! This fandom will always have a special place in my heart; you guys are incredibly supportive and sweet, and I can't wait to have more free time to share my sormik stories with you again. I don't want to stop writing for them any time soon. Thank you so much for everything<3
> 
> Hope you like it and happy reading!

“ _This is all your fault,”_ Mikleo said, almost spat, and there was so much anger in his voice that Sorey could do nothing but flinch.

_It was_ his fault, Sorey knew. He had been the one to brush aside Mikleo’s concerns just a few hours ago after all, flopping down on the sofa instead of marching through the door, like Mikleo had suggested. Mikleo had taken one look outside, frowned, and adamantly suggested they went down to the ski lodge where all of their friends stayed for the weekend, instead of staying in their own cabin until the party that night. It had been a sensible suggestion. Dark clouds had swallowed the sun hours before sundown, and thick snowflakes kept falling onto the already piled snow at a speed that had only made Mikleo’s frown deepen.

But Sorey had fallen in love with that little cabin the moment they had set a foot in it, just that very morning. He had looked at the wooden floors, the shelves of old books and journals that lined the walls, the cozy fireplace that had fire already been started for them, and—

Well. He did get to share that charming place with Mikleo.

The idea of leaving it early had made his heart squeeze in his chest.

So he had given Mikleo his best puppy eyes and begged to wait until it was time to actually leave for the party at the ski lodge. The weather forecast had said there wouldn’t be any heavy snowstorms during the weekend, and “ _you must be so tired, Mikleo!”_ Sorey had said, patting gently the cushions of the sofa, the one right in front of the fireplace. “ _You’ve been driving all day, after all. Let’s nap for a bit and then go down to the party, okay?”_

Maybe Sorey wasn’t entirely at fault, here. Because the weather forecast had said no snowstorms, and Mikleo had flopped down on the sofa with a sigh instead of kicking Sorey out of the door like he should have… But it didn’t matter. Because there _had_ been a snowstorm, and Mikleo had a face that screamed “I told you so” directly pointed towards Sorey a perfect wall of ice and snow that blocked the only entryway of the house loomed over them, like an impenetrable door. Like in cartoons.

Sorey wondered if his head would explode too, if Mikleo kept giving him that death glare.

“L-look, it’s not that bad,” Sorey rushed to say, lifting a hand to scratch at the wall of cold snow in front of him. Nothing chirped away, not even one sad snowflake. “We’ll call the emergency number and they’ll pull us out, no problem!” 

“Sorey, it’s _the middle of the night,_ ” Mikleo said, and Sorey had the impression that if Mikleo wasn’t so self-composed all the time, he would be shaking him by the lapels of his jacket already. “No one’s going to come! They’ll say to wait until tomorrow when the snow is more pliable and just stay in for the night.”

“Maybe not…? I mean—“

 “You _promised_ you wouldn’t fall asleep,” Mikleo kept going, cutting Sorey’s weak attempt at an excuse.

And fine, that was Sorey’s fault too. But he hadn’t been able to help it! He had told Mikleo to lay down on the couch to rest until the party, that he would stay awake just in case because he wasn’t that tired— But the fire had been soft and warm on his skin, and Mikleo had looked so peaceful while he slept on the other couch…

He had fallen asleep there, wondering how it would feel like to run the back of his fingers over the soft skin of Mikleo’s cheek.

A soft blush rose to Sorey’s cheeks as Mikleo kept groaning about the situation, turning around to check the windows. Sorey knew there was no need, though: the room wasn’t dark just because it was the middle of the night, but because the snow had covered the window panes completely as well, swallowing the lights of the road that went down the mountain and to the ski lodge. The embers at the fireplace weren’t strong enough to give much light either, and the cold was starting to set in the room.

They would have to get some more wood soon.

“I’m surprised Rose hasn’t blasted our phones with calls yet,” Mikleo wondered out loud, probably talking to himself more than to Sorey. His shoulders still showed how he felt about the whole thing, the tension in them making Sorey fidget in his spot by the door.

“Uh, maybe she has,” Sorey said after a small hesitation. He almost didn’t, but he wasn’t one to lie. “I, uh. Put my phone on silent before.”

“…Of course you did.”

“I didn’t want it to wake you up!”

Mikleo rolled his eyes and went to Sorey’s phone, unlocking it with the same easiness he would have his own. Sorey didn’t move, but he didn’t look away from his friend either, so he didn’t miss the moment when Mikleo went even more tense, his lithe fingers gripping Sorey’s phone with unnecessary force.

The little normin mascot that hung from his case —a matching one to Mikleo’s own— seemed to shiver in fear against Mikleo’s knuckles.

“This isn’t good,” Mikleo’s voice was flat, completely devoid of emotion, and Sorey felt as if a cold finger traced a line down his own spine.

“…Is she mad?”

It was a stupid question, but Sorey asked it just the same. He could only see Mikleo’s nape over the edge of the sofa, now that his friend had sat down, but he didn’t need to see his face to know the answer.

He didn’t have to _ask_ to know the answer.

And probably because of that, Mikleo didn’t answer. Instead, he turned on the sofa so he was facing Sorey, eyes meeting over the back of the chair, and said: “You’re going to call her. Now.”

“What!” Sorey jumped, his voice strangely loud in the quietness around them. His hand was gripping the doorknob of the still open door; the wall of ice just on the threshold did nothing but let gusts of cold slide into the cabin. “Why me! You have the phone in your hand already, why do I have to be the one to call her!?”

“Because whose fault is it that we’re snowed in in the first place?” Mikleo asked back, extending his arm and waggling Sorey’s phone in his direction. “You’re going to call her, and you’re going to apologize for missing her birthday party, and when she inevitably kills us both for such an offense, _you’ll_ be the first one to fall. Am I clear, Sorey?”

Sorey pouted. He was starting to think Mikleo was far too angry at this —at him— and that this punishment was way out of line, but he didn’t voice any of his thoughts. He had enough Mikleo experience to know that wouldn’t help his case at all. Instead, he closed the door with a sigh, not caring to lock it because there was an actual wall of ice just at the other side. Then he shuffled his socked feet towards Mikleo with a resigned expression. The sadness in his eyes didn’t move Mikleo one bit, who simply reached out further for Sorey to grab his own phone already.

“Call her,” Mikleo said the moment Sorey’s fingers curled around his phone.

Sorey didn’t even look up. Only sighed. “Yes, yes.”

One look at his home screen let Sorey know just how bad the situation was. Thirteen notifications on his phone icon. Ninety-eight on his messaging app, and two hundred and three on the app they used for the group chat. Sorey’s thumb trembled as he pressed the phone icon, and then immediately froze when he saw his whole screen covered by a list consisting of only Rose’s name, written in foreboding red across the device.

He was in for a good one, he was sure of it.

But there was one more pressing matter before his impending doom. “Hey, Mikleo?”

Mikleo wasn’t on the sofa anymore, but walking towards one the hallways that took them to the rest of the cabin. He stopped right on the threshold, one hand against the wall to help him navigate through the quickly deepening darkness. His short hair was still mussed from his nap, clinging to his cheeks and forehead in a way that had Sorey’s chest tightening beneath his ribcage.

“Mm?” Mikleo simply said, turning his head to look at Sorey.

Sorey licked his lips, looking down at the phone in his hand before looking up again. “For what is worth…” he started to say, making sure he didn’t look away from Mikleo’s eyes. Mikleo didn’t look away, either. “I’m really sorry.”

Mikleo blinked back at him, expression unchanging. But then his whole body relaxed, first his features, then his shoulders, until Mikleo was shaking his head with a fond expression that had Sorey smiling back at him.

“I know you are,” Mikleo said, still with that expression that made Sorey’s heart flutter just the tiniest bit. “This is annoying, but—it’s not the end of the world. We’ll get through this.” Mikleo held on the soft expression for a second longer, but he let it fall in the next blink to add: “You’re still going to call Rose, though.”

Sorey’s anguished groan followed Mikleo as he kept walking, leaving Sorey alone in the room.

Because he knew this wouldn’t be pretty, Sorey prepared himself for the call. He grabbed a blanket, wrapped himself in it as if he were a burrito, and went to sit as close to the dying embers as he dared, letting their warmth wash over his face as he looked down at his phone’s screen. Rose’s missed calls glared back at him with the same intensity Mikleo had earlier, but this was far scarier.

Mikleo would always forgive him, no matter what he did.

Rose, on the other hand—

“But if it isn’t Sorey, the backstabber, my former best friend, now dead to me!” Rose exclaimed the moment she picked up the phone, screaming over the sounds of music blasting somewhere near her. “Isn’t it nice to hear from you!" 

“Rooooose,” Sorey started, feeling himself start to pout already. He couldn’t help it, he hated letting his friends down. “Don’t be mad!”

“Why would I be mad!” Rose replied, irony coating her voice. “Because two of my best friends ditched me on _my birthday_ to go _suck face with each other!?_ Why would I be mad!?”

 “Uh! Eh! W—! We’re not—!” Sorey spluttered wildly, his whole body jerking so bad that his blanket slid off his shoulders. It didn’t matter, though; his face felt like it was on fire, all traces of cold suddenly gone. “We’re not—doing that! We don’t _do_ that!”

“Then you better have a good excuse, Sorey, because if you’re not missing my party because you’ve finally done something about your big gay crush, lords help me, I’m so going to—“

“We’re snowed in, Rose!” Sorey blurted out, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence. Nor wanting to hear about his ‘big gay crush’ for that matter. “We’re trapped in the cabin and we can’t get out.”

“—Wait, what?”

Rose’s tone changed in an instant. There was a beat of no more words, and suddenly the call went so silent that Sorey thought Rose had hung up on him. But he could still hear her breathing softly in the background, as if she was walking away briskly from the music around her.

“…Rose?” Sorey asked softly when she continued to stay silent.

“One sec—Okay, now I can hear you. What do you mean you’re trapped, are you okay?”

“I—yeah, we’re fine, both of us!” Sorey quickly reassured her. Rose didn’t sound angry anymore, only worried. “We’re just—We slept for a few hours and when we woke up the doors and windows were covered in snow. We can’t get out.”

“…Man, I hadn’t realized it was snowing that bad,” Rose said, and Sorey wondered if she was looking out the window. Sorey couldn’t even tell if it was still snowing beyond the walls of ice around the cabin. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did you call the emergency number?”

Sorey nodded, even though Rose couldn’t see. “I think Mikleo’s in the back calling them now,” Sorey said. At least, he hoped he was. “But yeah, we’re okay! I’m sorry we’re missing your party, Rose.”

Through the phone, Rose sighed, creating a static that filled Sorey’s ear until Rose spoke again, a bit of her usual mirth again in her voice. “It’s alright. I wasn’t even that mad when I thought you were making out with Mikleo in that cabin of yours, but I still wanted to give you a hard time about it.”

Once again, Sorey felt heat rise up from his chest to cover his whole face, even making his eyes water. The heat of his skin combined with the heat of the embers was unbearable, and he scooted back through the floor until his back was pressed against the front of the nearest sofa.

“We don’t—!” Sorey started to say, but his tongue felt clumsy in his mouth. “Y-you know we’re not like that, Rose.”

“Oh, don’t I know,” Rose sighed dramatically, and Sorey could hear the roll of her eyes in her voice before she laughed. “The sweetest dork, forever pining after another big dork. When will you confess, Sorey? Aren’t you tired of this?”

Sorey swallowed thickly, looking down at his covered knees. “…I think I rather go back to you being mad at me than talk about this.”

“Wow. Those are serious words, my friend.”

“Well…” Sorey hadn’t been lying when he had said that. His relationship with Mikleo was a sore subject, after all. No, scratch that; his relationship with Mikleo was _great_. Sorey loved his best friend, and he knew Mikleo loved him back, even when Sorey made them get stranded in a cabin in the middle of the mountains. But it was any talk of _more_ what made Sorey all nervous and almost—uncomfortable.

Because he wanted it. He wanted more so bad, sometimes he felt he wasn’t even being fair.

But Rose had always thought Sorey was an idiot for thinking like that.

_‘You could have something great together!’_ She was prone to saying, sometimes even punching Sorey’s shoulder. _‘Don’t be a coward and go for it!’_

Sorey didn’t want to admit he was scared, but he was.

He didn’t want to lose Mikleo just because he was being greedy.

“Oh, my lords, I just had the greatest idea.”

A cold sweat went down Sorey’s back at Rose’s words, making him shiver. “I don’t think—“

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Rose started to say, talking over Sorey’s voice quickly. “I am very, very mad at you for skipping my birthday party. But I’m a great friend so I’ll forgive you. On one condition.”

Sorey didn’t like where this was going. “Rose—“

“Confess. To. Mikleo.” Rose said, loud and clear, three shouts that had Sorey looking frantically around the room in case Mikleo could hear. He was, thankfully, still alone. “And I’ll forget you didn’t show up tonight.”

“I—You were mad at me two minutes ago because you said I was— _sucking face_ with Mikleo!”

“Sorey, my friend, my pal. If you had actually been making out with Mikleo I would make this whole party be in your honor.”

Sorey let out a groan from somewhere deep in his chest. His heart was beating fast; he could feel it drumming against his palm. “Please don’t make me do this.”

“One day, when you’re giving your —sickeningly romantic—toast at your own wedding, you’ll be thanking me. I know it, Sorey!”

“I…” Sorey started to say, but a noise from behind his back made him turn. It sounded like a door opening and closing again. Then, a flickering light danced over the walls of the hallway, and Mikleo’s light footsteps reached him. “I gotta go.”

“You’re trapped alone in a cabin with your crush, Sorey! No one’s going to interrupt you, you have no excuses!” Rose was rushing her words out, making sure they were heard before Sorey could cut the call. “Confess! To! Him!!”

“Bye, Rose!”

The next shout was cut the moment Sorey pressed the screen of his phone. The suddenly blissful silence made Sorey sigh, but it didn’t last for long. Mikleo was back in the room, his phone shining his way—and struggling to balance logs in his arms.

“Did Rose disown us?” Mikleo asked as Sorey jumped to his feet.

“Not yet,” Sorey replied, silently taking the logs off Mikleo’s arms and carrying them himself to the chimney, where he fed them to the fire. “I think she was worried for a second when I told her we’re stuck in here.” 

“If you don’t think I’m going to sleep with one eye open from now on…”

Sorey snorted, but said nothing else. As the flames started to lick at the logs and become stronger by the second, Sorey couldn’t help but think back to what Rose had said. It was the perfect opportunity, almost like a movie, yes: a whole cabin for them alone, where no one could interrupt them, where Sorey could confess—

“Sorey?” Mikleo’s hand squeezed Sorey’s shoulder softly, and Sorey jumped. He hadn’t even realized Mikleo had touched him in the first place. “Hey. Step back from the fire, you’re getting all red…”

“I’m—fine! I’m fine,” clearing his throat, Sorey moved away like Mikleo had asked, coming to sit with his back against the sofa once again. “Did you get to call the emergency number, or…?”

“I did,” Mikleo replied with a sigh. He grabbed a blanket for himself from the back of the sofa and let himself flop by Sorey’s side, shoulders pressed together comfortably. “But yeah, they said it’d take a while to bring the snowplow here, so we better sit tight and wait.”

“What about the power?” Sorey asked, looking around at the dark room only illuminated by the light of the fireplace. “Can we do something about it? We don’t even have heat going on…”

Mikleo sighed again, burrowing himself deeper into his own blanket, and into Sorey’s side. Sorey had half a thought of lifting his arm and passing it over Mikleo’s shoulders, to bring him closer and give him warmth—but his conversation with Rose was still too fresh in his mind, so the simple idea of hugging Mikleo, as innocent as it would be, made heat rush to his face once again.

“Apparently there is an emergency generator for moments like these,” Mikleo says, a reply to something that Sorey needed a second to remember. Power, right. “But, well… it’s outside. So.”

Sorey flinched. “Mikleo, I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright, Sorey.” Mikleo replied, and by his tone of voice Sorey could even—believe it. Mikleo definitely didn’t look as annoyed as he had been before. The shadows of the fireplace casted shadows over his pale skin, making his jaw look sharp and dangerous, his eyelashes impossibly long. Sorey would look at him all night if he could. “Like I said, it could be worse.”

A smile pulled at the corners of Sorey’s mouth. “True! We could have, like, no books to read at all.”

“No podcasts saved in our phones.”

“No candy!”

“No more logs for the chimney stored inside the cabin.”

“No service?” 

“…I could be alone,” Mikleo said, softly, after a pause. The change in his voice was so noticeable that Sorey turned his head quickly to look at him, a frown in between his eyes. Mikleo’s eyes were set on the fire, but his expression was serene when he added: “I just—even if this whole situation is annoying… I’m glad you’re here with me, Sorey.”

Ah, the joys of having a heart inside one’s chest. Sorey had never been so aware of the thing as he was right now, feeling it always skipping beats, always trying to escape from his chest to get closer to Mikleo. “I’m glad you’re here with me too, Mikleo.”

“—Even if it’s totally your fault we’re in this mess in the first place.”

“Mikleooooooooo.”

Mikleo laughed softly, turning his face to hide the sound in Sorey’s shoulder, and Sorey grinned despite the teasing. This, this was all he needed. Companionship, and Mikleo close to him, and so many fun moments that they just lapsed together, until Sorey’s whole life felt warm and happy.

But then—why did his heart yearn for more?

“Mm. Hey, Mikleo?”

“Yeah?”

Sorey would be lying if he said he had never thought about how to confess. Thousands of ideas had gone through his head by that point, but none seemed perfect. He had thought about roses and candles, about long walks alone that ended in Mikleo’s doorway, the perfect place for a first kiss. He had thought about just blurting it out while watching a movie or while reading, breaking the peace that always followed them when they were alone together. He had thought about doing it in a field trip, stealing away Mikleo for a moment between work and personal researches to confess his feelings in his ear.

But the fear kept bringing Sorey back from the point of no return, cocooning him in the security of their friendship.

Every. Single. Time.

“Sorey.”

With a blink, Sorey focused his gaze back again on Mikleo, who looked confused as he looked back at him. But that was not the only thing; Mikleo was pulling the blanket around his shoulders tighter around his chest, keeping his movements small so Sorey wouldn’t notice.

But he did. Of course he did. “You’re shivering, Mikleo!”

The fire in the fireplace was still going, but it wasn’t enough to keep the cold away from the entire room. Even in the area of the sofa the cold was already reaching them, biting at their skin like an annoyed cat. Mikleo shrugged under the blanket, snapping his gaze away. The cold was starting to turn the tip of his nose and the top of his cheeks rosy.

“I’ll be fine,” he muttered.

Sorey pursed his lips, already looking around the room. “I don’t want you to get sick, though! Maybe we c—Ah! Got it!”

He jumped up to his feet before Mikleo could say anything against it, setting his plan into motion a second later. There was a small table between the sofa and the fireplace, light enough for Sorey to be able to pick it up on his own and move it aside. He could feel the cold shifting in the room as he worked, feeling almost as if it was following him, so Sorey hurried up. The table out of the way, he went back to Mikleo, a soft smile on his lips as he nudged him with his knee.

“Help me move the couch?”

Mikleo raised an eyebrow at the request, but accepted it nonetheless. Not even caring about letting go of the blanket, Mikleo joined Sorey at the back of the sofa to push it closer to the fire, only leaving enough distance for Mikleo to deem it safe. Then Sorey jumped over the back with care and turned to look at Mikleo with a winning smile, knees on the cushions and hands resting by Mikleo’s own.

“See? Now we can even lay down to nap and stay warm!”

“Ah,” Mikleo’s look was unimpressed. “There’s two of us, genius. And with the sofa like this, we can’t move the other one closer.”

“…Oh,” Sorey looked at the distribution of the living room; unsurprisingly, Mikleo was right. He wasn’t very bothered by it, though. “So? We’ll just sleep on the sofa together! It’s not a big deal!”

The heat of the fireplace was working its wonders already on Mikleo’s cold skin, which was starting to acquire a soft color in his cheeks and down to his neck. “We’re not children anymore! We won’t fit there.”

Sorey laughed. “Wanna bet?”

Mikleo didn’t laugh with him. His hands were gripping the back of the sofa tightly, and he was doing that thing he only did when faced against a particularly hard sentence to translate from the ancient tongue: he was biting the inside of his cheek distractedly, the line of his jaw sharp and sketched in the shadows of the fire.

Sorey felt as if someone had grabbed a handful of snow and had shoved it down the back of his shirt, chilling him to the core.

“…Unless it makes you uncomfortable,” he said, looking away. “Sorry.”

Had he done it? Had he stepped over the imaginary line he could never for the life of him find? It was easy to forget, sometimes, that now that his feelings were _like that_ , he had to be careful with the way he acted. Sorey had never had to do something like that in the past; everything came natural and easy with Mikleo. Nothing was second-guessed.

He had known this ‘feelings’ thing would be a mess.

But the last thing he had ever wanted was make Mikleo uncomfortable.

“…Don’t be ridiculous,” Mikleo said, and by the time Sorey looked back at him again, Mikleo was also throwing his long legs over the back of the sofa, coming to kneel by Sorey’s side over the cushions. “Well, lie down. I want to be closer to the fire.”

Just as fast as the cold feeling had come, it disappeared. Sorey let out a relieved sigh and grinned, flopping onto his back like a happy puppy and then rolling onto his side, to let Mikleo have as much room as possible in the narrow space they had. Mikleo smiled too, and with a grace Sorey could never possess, he laid down onto his side as well, face towards the fire and back towards Sorey.

His hair smelled like his usual shampoo, and Sorey felt at home.

“Should we take a nap?” Sorey found himself saying, voice so soft it was barely a whisper.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to sleep with the fire going on, though.”

“Ah, true, true!”

“…Okay, hold on, my face feels like it’s melting.”

“Haha, maybe my plan worked too well? Mikleo, should we—?”

The sofa truly was too narrow. The heat of the fire was almost too much to handle, but Mikleo’s body was a nice barrier: it kept most of the heat away, and still Mikleo’s own body warmth added to it all nicely, making Sorey sleepy and wanting to cuddle closer.

But then Mikleo turned, trying to escape from the worst of the heat, and the last thing Sorey felt in that moment was sleepiness.

Mikleo was a long line pressed against Sorey’s front, chest to chest, knees to knees, all sinewy muscle and soft fabric, from the expensive sweaters Mikleo was so prone to buying. He could feel — far too south for Sorey not to blush — the buckle of Mikleo’s belt, pressed snuggly against Sorey’s shirt, over his abdomen.

And then Sorey made the mistake of looking into Mikleo’s surprised, beautiful eyes, and he was done.

He was so done for.

Neither spoke. The crackle of the fire was the only thing that could be heard in the softly lit room, not even their breaths daring to break the silence. It wasn’t a tense silence, but Sorey couldn’t fully relax into it, either. His heart was beating far too fast for that, and he wondered if the light of the fire would be enough for Mikleo to see just how fast it was moving, there at the base of his neck.

Sorey hoped he couldn’t. There was no plausible explanation for your heart threatening to jump out of your chest when you’re laying down on a couch with your best friend.

“Sorey,” Mikleo called, so softly that Sorey would have missed it if they hadn’t been so close, facing each other.

“Mm?” Was all Sorey could manage to say.

In front of him, Mikleo moved closer. His eyes were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen; Sorey had grown up with them always by his side, and still he kept being surprised at how luminous and vibrant their color was, how they could make you feel thousands of emotions with a single look. All of Mikleo was surprising and exciting actually, from his brain to his smart mouth to his beautiful self.

So when Mikleo moved closer, close enough to press his lips against Sorey’s mouth in a gentle kiss, Sorey could do nothing but gape at him.

That, and push Mikleo off the sofa.

The moment stretched, long and agonizing. Mikleo looked up at Sorey from the floor, sprawled over his back with his arms uselessly half-holding him up. And Sorey looked down at him, mouth slightly open and lips tingling, even if no words managed to come out at all.

Those eyes that Sorey had been so enraptured by just seconds ago flashed, and just like that, time started flowing again.

“Oh. My god.” Mikleo said as he moved away from the sofa and the fireplace and _Sorey,_ shaking his head as he crawled over the floor. “Oh my _god_.”

“Mikleo—“

“Don’t.”

“But—“

“No!” Mikleo didn’t seem to be able to remember he could actually get up to his feet. Face as red as the flames behind him, Mikleo kept crawling over the wooden floor as far away as possible, turning around the sofa to hide behind it, not meeting Sorey’s eyes. “You could have just— said no, you know! You didn’t have to _push me off the sofa._ ”

“I—I freaked out!” Sorey screamed, pushing himself onto his knees to look over the back of the sofa. He was only rewarded with the sight the crown of Mikleo’s white head and the very red tips of his ears.

“You could have just. Said no!” Mikleo screamed back, finally looking up at Sorey with angry eyes.

“W-well, you _kissed me!”_

Oh, lords, that had happened, hadn’t it? Sorey hadn’t intoxicated himself with the smell of Mikleo’s shampoo and dreamed the whole thing, had he?

It wouldn’t have been the first time.

“And I figured that even if you didn’t want me to, at least you’d have the decency to let me down _gently!”_ Mikleo exclaimed. He seemed to have suddenly remembered what his legs were for because, in the next blink, he jumped to his feet and started walking away, stomping around the empty, dark cabin. “I guess we both were surprised tonight!!”

“Mikleo!”

Sorey rushed to follow after his friend, even if he had no idea what to say or do. What _could_ he do, once he reached Mikleo? What _should_ he say?

How was he supposed to decide when he could do nothing but think about that fleeting touch of Mikleo’s mouth against his own?

It turned out, it didn’t matter. Mikleo was fast when he wanted to be, and by the time Sorey had almost reached him Mikleo slammed the bedroom door shut in his face, the cold wood almost colliding with the tip of Sorey’s nose. Sorey jumped back in time to avoid it, but the sound itself was enough to hurt deep in his chest.

Sorey lifted an arm and started pounding his fist on the door, trying to make it open. “Mikleo! Open up, this is ridiculous!”

“Leave me alone, Sorey!”

“You don’t have a right to be mad at me!” Sorey exclaimed back. He was starting to get desperate. “ _You_ kissed _me!_ ”

“…Fine,” Mikleo said after a pause, and the defeated tone of his voice was so unexpected that Sorey froze, fist over the wooden door still. “I kissed you. And now everything is a mess because of it so I regret even thinking about doing it! I won’t… I won’t say I’m sorry but I do regret it so please— Just leave me alone until they come to get us out of here, okay?”

Sorey’s heart squeezed itself in his ribcage, harder than ever before, far more painful too. “Mikleo, I don’t—That’s not what I want at all.”

There was no answer to that. At the other side of the door everything was silent, everything was still. Sorey swallowed thickly and tried for the doorknob, but he wasn’t surprised when he found it locked. He kept his hand around the cold metal as he let his forehead meet the front of the door, a soft sigh escaping from his lips.

Mikleo was right. This was all a mess.

“I don’t want you to regret it,” Sorey kept saying, softly, closing his eyes at the emotion threatening to spill from his heart. “I didn’t even want to push you away! I just—I just freaked out because you were so close, and the room was very warm, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty you are and suddenly you were kissing—“

“What?”

Hearing Mikleo’s voice was such a shock that Sorey bit down on his tongue with his next word, opening his eyes to stare at the still closed door. “—wha?”

“You were… thinking about how pretty I am.”

Something inside Sorey told him that was supposed to be a question, but Mikleo sounded so unsure it came as nothing but an assessment. Still, Sorey nodded, letting in a sharp inhale of air. “I—yeah. I’m constantly thinking about that, actually.”

“…Why?”

“Why what?”

A small hesitation. Then Mikleo’s voice sounded even closer, right at the other side of the door. “…Why are you _constantly_ thinking about that?”

Sorey opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. The hallway was cold; the strength of the fire wasn’t enough to warm up anything beyond the living room. But Sorey was missing something more than the fireplace: he missed Mikleo by his side, warm and familiar with him.

He missed, despite the fact that he had only had it for a brief second in all of his life, Mikleo’s warm breath against his lips.

So he closed his eyes, and said: “Because I’m in love with you.”

If the silence had been nerve-wracking before, not it was suffocating. It stretched, like the fall before the hit against the ground, and it hurt twice as bad. But then, the doorknob jiggled in Sorey’s loose fist, and Sorey stepped back in time for the door to open slowly, just enough for Mikleo to peek out.

They look at each other for a long moment. Mikleo’s cheeks were apple red.

“Did you mean that…?” Mikleo asked, still half hidden behind the door.

Sorey smiled softly, then shrugged. “I wouldn’t have said so, otherwise.”

Mikleo nodded, as if that made sense. “So you’re not… mad at me for kissing you…?”

“No,” Sorey shook his head quickly. He wanted to step closer, but didn’t dare to do so just yet. Mikleo was still using the door as some sort of barrier between them, after all. “And I’m very, very sorry I pushed you off! I was just—“

“—Freaking out?” Mikleo finished for him, a teasing, small smile on his lips.

Sorey laughed, and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah.”

“So was I.”

Soft laughter bubbled out them both at the absurdity of it all. Mikleo finally let go of the door and stepped out, traces of his laughter still clinging to his lips in the shape of a sweet smile. Sorey’s heart reacted at the sight, and he found himself smiling back as him as well, yearning to reach for him but not knowing if it was okay to do so.

And still, the hesitation wasn’t as bad as it had been lately. Sorey felt freer now, as if someone had taken a backpack full of manuals of his back. It wasn’t an all or nothing situation now.

It was just a matter of time.

“So…” Mikleo started, looking down to the side and then back at Sorey, trying and failing to keep a blank face. He was blushing again, and the corner of his mouth kept twitching upwards in the cutest movement Sorey had ever seen.

“So…” Sorey echoed, and he leaned forward, to the point where Mikleo would have to lean back if he wanted to keep some kind of personal space. He didn’t. “Give me another chance? I promise not to freak out this time.”

Mikleo couldn’t keep the smile off his face any longer. It bloomed like a pale flower, soft and beautiful, and Sorey’s treacherous heart reacted to it by speeding up its rhythm, until it almost left his owner breathless. “…Okay.” Mikleo said after a small pause, the word barely a whisper as he pushed himself slowly onto his tiptoes, and forward. He caught himself on Sorey’s jacket, fingers loosely gripping the lapels. “Actually kiss me back this time, will you?”

Sorey’s arms went around Mikleo’s waist. He was surprised at how well Mikleo fitted in them, but then, he realized he shouldn’t be. This felt as if it was meant to happen since the beginning after all.

“Yes, sir.”

 

* * *

 

 

Sunlight truly was the enemy of the hungover.

Sorey watched, amused, as Rose stumbled into the lobby of the ski lodge with her eyes barely open. She was still wearing what she had wore to the party, something flashy and surprisingly comfortable that probably didn’t have as many wrinkles last night as it did in that moment. Her red hair was a nest on top of her head, but it served a purpose: when she let herself fall on the couch in front of Sorey’s, it kept the first rays of sun away from her face.

“Why.” She muttered, and while the word was short and lonely, Rose still managed to infused it with the most betrayed tone she could muster at six in the morning. “Why.”

“Good morning to you too, Rose,” Mikleo replied pleasantly, rising the cup of coffee to his lips to take a sip. With his other hand, he was still petting Sorey’s head, there where he laid across Mikleo’s lap. Which Sorey appreciated. Mikleo always gave the best scratches. “Did you sleep well?”

“For an _hour_ ,” Rose spat. She had closed her eyes firmly against the light in the room, and if Sorey had to guess, she was about to try and burrow her head in the pillows of the co—yeah, there she went. “I thought you were trapped in the mountain.” She kept on. At least, that’s what Sorey thought she had said. It was hard to hear her with the couch in her mouth and the alcohol in her veins. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“They let us out around an hour ago,” Mikleo explained with a shrug. “And here we thought you would be worried about us…”

“Yeah, we’re wounded, Rose!” Sorey chipped in, completely cheerful.

Rose lifted her head at that to send a death glare to Sorey with a single, bloodshot eye. “ _You_ are wounded? Do I have to remind you whose best friend abandoned her _on her birthday?”_

Mikleo hit Sorey in the shoulder for that. Way to put his foot in it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mikleo said anyway, hiding away once again behind his coffee. “Sorey’s never missed one of _my_ birthdays. You know, his actual best friend…?”

“The _nerve—!_ _Ow!_ Don’t make me shout! That hurts…”

Both Sorey and Mikleo laughed at that, but they made sure to keep their voice low so as not to disturb their friend. Rose took a moment longer to compose herself and then sat up again, this time directing her death glare at the rising sun, as if to say “come here, you little jerk. I’ll show you pain”. Sorey smiled fondly at her, and nudged his own cheek deeper into Mikleo’s lap.

The movement made Rose look back at them, and then frown. “Wait, why do you look so smug?” Rose demanded, pointing a finger towards Mikleo. “And why do you look so content?” She added, this time pointing at Sorey.

“No reason,” both boys replied at the same time, looking at each other and then away.

Sorey watched Rose watch them, and wondered what would give it away. Would it be Sorey’s head on Mikleo’s lap? The way Mikleo’s thumb kept brushing against Sorey’s cheek on its way down? The way Sorey was playing piano on the inside of Mikleo’s thigh, lightly running the fingers of one hand against the denim of his trousers?

Sorey was almost excited to know.

“I’m going to get more coffee,” Mikleo suddenly said, and Sorey lifted his head up to let him go, although he immediately missed his warmth. “Do you guys want anything?”

“Death,” Rose replied.

“Tea, please!” Sorey added, fingers lingering on Mikleo’s sleeve for a moment longer before letting go.

“Mmm,” Mikleo looked at Rose for a brief second, then back at Sorey. There was a teasing light in his eyes that had Sorey immediately buzzing with energy, wanting to be in on the joke. The moment Mikleo leaned forward, he understood. “Be right back, then.” He said.

And kissed Sorey softly on the lips.

An echo of what they had been doing all night without sleep.

Rose watched the scene with a bored expression, even having to hide a yawn in the palm of her hand as Mikleo walked away. Sorey turned towards her with what was hopefully a poker face, but the pleasant feeling of Mikleo’s kiss on his lips made it hard not to smile.

It took a whole minute. Sorey was starting to think Rose had missed it when she suddenly went tense, her eyes snapping from Sorey to Mikleo and then back at Sorey, growing wider with each look. It would have been comical, if Rose didn’t look ready to jump on the table and start screaming.

“Wait.” She suddenly said, head moving still as if she was watching a tennis match. “ _Wait.”_

Sorey said nothing. Only smiled.

Rose’s jaw fell, and then fell some more.

Her scream resounded through all the ski lodge, and past the mountains.

“ _OH MY G—!”_


End file.
